At least 11 dead as flash floods hit Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria

Shafaq News/ At least 11 people have died and several were missing after torrential rains and flash floods struck Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria authorities reported on Wednesday.

In the northwestern Turkish Kirklareli province, near the border with Greece and Bulgaria, three people died after a group of 12 got trapped in a hotel and swelling rainwaters swept away several bungalows.

Six people were rescued with boats and heavy machinery and three others remained missing, according to reports on the NTV television network.

In the Sisli valley, located some 10 kilometers south of the Bulgarian border, at least two people died on Wednesday when floodwaters swept their car away.

In Istanbul two people have died and torrential rains have flooded thousands of houses, subway stations and a hospital.

The city’s governor, Davut Gul, said the local government would provide shelter to those affected by the floods after two of Istanbul’s neighborhoods were ravaged by heavy rain.

Gul added that the city had seen the equivalent of up to three months of rain in the last few hours.

Storm Daniel has battered Greece for a second day in what experts have called the most extreme weather event on record in the country.

At least two people have died and another was missing in the central Magnesia prefecture, a spokesperson from the fire department told Efe.

On the back of a heat wave and some of Greece’s worst forest fires since 2007, torrential rains left a record 75.4 liters per square meter in just 24 hours in the central village of Zagora.

Firefighters rescued dozens of people with rafts trapped in Volos, the capital of the Magnesia region.

Most of the city was without power and water, while damage was reported on the road network across the region.

The storm has now swept across to the regions of Trikala, Karditsa, and Phthiotis in central Greece, where authorities have evacuated several localities.

According to the National Observatory of Athens, heavy rains will persist until Thursday in the center and south.

In Bulgaria, a search is underway for several missing persons and at least two people have died.

The municipality of Tsarevo, on the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria’s southeastern border with Turkey, has been the most affected region.